The Search for the Dwarven Ring
by LeanerSmile796
Summary: At the end of the 3rd era of the Sun, a great evil is awoken. Names such as Frodo the Ring-bearer, Gandalf the Gray, and Aragon the King are well known from this conflict, and rightfully so. However there is another story to be told, one that was just as important but was overlooked by through the passage of time.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone. Today you are in for what could be a treat. I have for you a story based off of J.R.R. Tolkien's famous **_**Lord of the Rings **_**trilogy. I have loved the series ever since I was a little boy, and the lore in Middle-Earth is so deep you can write a whole history book based off of his notes. I don't know if I will publish a second story, but I will complete this first if I ever do.**

**Enjoy!**

Chapter 1: The Beginning

The end of the Dwarves was evident. The only home they know is in the Iron Mountains. They cannot hold this for long. Rumor has it that an ancient evil is awakening and that nothing can stop it. However, there might be one thing. After looking through royal documents, a Dwarven accountant found the solution.

"My sire, after looking upon the royal documents per your commands, I found something that might help us defend our home. Maybe even help us reclaim our former kingdoms."

The king shifted in his throne, "Speak your mind."

"I found documents that states that good-king Thrain II, the last Dwarven Ring Bearer, was heading towards the southwest towards Mirkwood. If we could reclaim that Ring it would give us more power than we have had in centuries."

The king thought about this. Mirkwood is normally dangerous, but with the Enemy possibly on the loose it has become unpredictable. The Dwarves needed some sort of edge if they are going to survive this war, assuming it ever comes to it. The worst part would be if the Enemy got their hands on it. The Enemy would have the advantage over not just the Dwarves, but also the Humans and Elves (but he could care less for the latter). The destruction would make that of the Fall of Sauron look like child's play.

"Thank you for your input. I need you to leave. I must consult my generals on this."

"Of course, my liege." The accountant said as he left and four generals walked in front of the king.

"Sire, you possibly can't be thinking this is possibly be thinking of this. This would be a suicide mission, and that's assuming that the Ring is even there." One of the generals said.

"But what if it is there. We would be one of the most powerful kingdoms in Middle-Earth. We could reclaim our former glory." A second general argued.

The third stepped up in a fury. "And what!? Sacrifice our defense for something that might be there! It will be the end of us! This kingdom is all that is left!" That was all it took for the generals to start arguing out of control. All except for the fourth.

"Enough!" The king yelled out of frustration, "In case you haven't noticed, we have four generals, not three!" He faces the last general who is waiting there. "What is your say in all of this?"

"With all due respect sire, but I was waiting for the children to stop playing their games." The other generals gave him a death stare. "I have a fighter in my legion that is perfect for this kind of quest. He fought in the Battle of Five Armies and was the only survivor from his squadron. He has accepted any suicide mission that I have assigned him and obviously survived with only minor wounds at the most."

The king sat back on his throne. "Interesting. You never said his name."

"His name is Haron."

Haron had been walking traveling towards Mirkwood for a week. He had received his orders directly from the king. "Finally," he thought to himself, "the mission that I can join my cohort with." He has been sent against legions of orcs, goblins, spiders, dragons, once all at the same time. None were worthy enough to finish the kill.

He walked into a forest for camp he was thinking, what if he would not find his worthy death. He would die in his bed old, while his cohort got a glorious death during the Battle of Five Armies. It would not be right for him to leave that kind of legacy in his eyes.

"This spot looks secure."

As he fell asleep, this was all that he was thinking of.

He woke up the next day not feeling good. He was feeling pain all over his body, he felt tied to something large. Then the biggest thing hit him. He could not see anything. He was angry at this point. Whoever kidnapped him was going to give him a dishonorable death! Then he heard a ruffle in the leaves.

"Who is that? Show yourself coward!"

"There is no need to fear, dwarf." Haron knew that it was a Man from the sound of voice, but did not know what to think. Rumor has it that the Enemy has been recruiting humans. Then the human removed the blindfold. He was a tall man with dark hair and a scruffy beard. "What is your name?"

"You tell me your name first, human!"

"You're the trespasser here. My name is of no importance, but if you must know. You can call me Stryder." The human said.

"What is Sauron doing in these parts? We are miles away from Mordor."

Stryder drew his sword and pointed it towards the Dwarf. Haron waited for the moment of death. Then he felt free.

"You mistake my purpose here, Dwarf, we have no love for the Enemy. Now your name."

Haron was confused at this revelation. This forest has no human settlements that would be able capable to of having a trained militia like he is seeing. "Haron."

"So, Haron." Stryder unrolls a large piece of cloth revealing many axes of every shape and size. Haron went down to reclaim his weapons but was met by sword point. "What brings a Dwarf this far away from the Iron Mountains with enough weapons to arm a legion?"

Haron knew that he was out matched was outmatched here. "I'm on a mission from the King, he believes that an ancient source of power is in Mirkwood." He reclaimed his axes. "Now where are your men?"

"They were here the whole time." Arrows started to fly around the two of them. "You just haven't been looking hard enough."

"Well played, Stryder, well played." Haron said as he looked around.

"Katelyn, come down here." As soon as he said this, a woman jumped from the tree tops and landed in front of the pair. She was dirty, but was still beautiful underneath all of it. She had blue eyes and blond hair. "Katelyn, this is Dwarf is on a mission of importance and would require assistance. I want you to take him to Rivendell. After that assist him in any way possible. I would do this myself but my attention is elsewhere. Four hobbits are nearing Bree and they have a great burden on them"

"Yes, sir." She said.

"Good. We will leave the two of you to get acquainted." He said as he left and then the leaves in the trees started to move.

Haron started away from her and mumbled, "I don't need help from some woman."

Katelyn did not take this insult lightly. She threw a dagger right through the dwarf's beard and held him to the tree that he was just freed from. "Now you listen. I did not sign up for this assignment. So I don't want to put up with anything you have to say about me being born a woman. Got it!"

"And if I don't?"

She pulled the dagger from the tree, "I promise that I won't miss next time."

**Well, there you go. Please leave a review with advice and suggestions. They say that your first time is always the worst (and no… I'm not talking about that get you mind out of the gutter). I'll upload the next chapter as soon as I can.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, I'm back. And I forgot to mention last time we meet that I will be having a lot of cameos from the original story. There was one in the last chapter. Can you catch them all? **

**(Not a paid advertisement)**

Chapter 2: Ambush

"I cannot believe that we are seeking help from the elves." Haron said. "We don't need them. We have all of the provisions we need, and we have a map that works perfectly fine."

"You Dwarves are as stubborn as the stone you live in. My orders are to escort you Rivendell and that is what I'm going to do." Katlyn said after hearing Haron complain for hours.

"But what do they have to offer us? They had their chance to help the Dwarves many times in the past, and all they did was try to steal what was rightfully ours."

"If the elves know of anything, it would be the artifacts of legends. What is it that we are looking for exactly? You never told me?"

"That's because I don't want you to tell those thieving elves anything." Katlyn rolled her eyes; she is not getting anything out of this Dwarf. Then she heard some sort of growling behind the tree line.

"Haron, did you hear something?" She said drawing her sword and dagger.

"Yeah. Warg" Haron grabbed his largest axe. "Whoever kills the most chooses where we go?"

"Hmm, deal" Katlyn said confidently. Then the warg showed itself. The great wolf had seen battle before and was hungry for flesh and bone. Its orc rider taunted the two of them in its disgusting language. With one flick of Katlyn's wrist, both the warg and the orc had daggers right between their eyes. "One, and two."

"Warg hunt in pacts, princess. I will still be able to catch up."

"Not with that kind of language you won't"

Not too long later, two rider less warg attacked from behind. Haron swung his great axe making a whirlind swing, killing both warg. "One, and two. We are even"

"Far enough, but you are still going to lose your own bet."

Six more warg, all with riders, appeared and were circling the pair. When they charged forward they were brought down by sword and axe. Riders fell and were executed promptly. Then there were only two left standing, Katlyn and Haron.

"How many did you get?" Katlyn asked after they had been waiting for another warg to come.

"Three warg, three rider" He said, wiping the blood off of his axe onto one of the warg, "I don't think there are anymore. How may did you kill?"

She walked over to an orc to grab her daggers, "Three warg, three riders." She looked at the warg Haron was using as a blood rag. She then threw a dagger at the warg. "Four warg, three riders."

Haron jumped up startled, "Why did you do that? It was already dead!"

"I saw it twitch. I might have just saved your life."

Haron started mumbling and continued cleaning his axes. "Well when you are done we are continuing to Rivendell…Wait…" She felt around her neck and knew that something was missing. "Damn it." She went around looting the corpses.

"Did you lose something?" Haron asked.

"Shut up and help me find my necklace. "It is silver… has a wolf on it…"

Haron looked down and saw it right next to him. "Is this it?"

Katlyn looked over then snatched it from the Dwarf's hands. She held it close to her chest and tried to walk away. But she could not find the strength, she fell to her knees crying, "I'm…sorry."

Haron approached her, "Are you okay?" He laid hand on her softly.

"I…I need a moment." Then she got up and ran deep into the forest, putting the necklace on.

It was dark when Haron saw Katlyn again; he had started a fire and just finished putting up the tents. "Are you feeling better?"

As she got closer, Haron could see what she was doing. She had blood splattered on her, but not orc blood, and she tossed four squirrels at Haron. "Y…Yeah. Sorry that you had to see me like that. It's just." Her voice trailed off holding her necklace. "This necklace is personal to me."

"Somebody close to you?"

"Yeah. My parents were traders between from Bree. I went with them all over Middle-Earth. Gondor, Rivendell, even the Shire. But on the way home… Orcs. They killed my parents and left me for the cold and rain to kill. Daddy gave me this amulet… and said to run. I ran as fast as I could home. Bree didn't have enough soldiers to spare for a tale told by a little girl. None of the travelers listened either. Except for one man. He recognized the amulet. We went out and gave my parents a proper burial. He was the leader of the Rangers at the time. They took me in and taught me everything I know now."

"You are not the only one to loose loved ones." Haron went into his tent and brought out a thin flag. "This was my squadron's standard. I was the only survivor from the Battle of Five Armies sixty years ago. I have been looking for a worthy death ever since."

"Why? Why do you want to die?"

"They were my brothers-in-arms, and the only family that I have ever known. They died an honorable death while I live."

"But do you think you family is disappointed that you live, or happy"

"I…I never thought about that." Haron said in disbelief, "One of them… he… sacrificed himself for me…"

"You see it is not worth dying over just to join them." Katlyn put her hand on his shoulder.

"I… I need to think about this." Haron said while he stood up and walked to his tent.

**Well they had to stop going after each other eventually. Please don't forget to give me a quick review on how you think I did. And if you are in the mood, also say if you think Katlyn killed three or four warg. Peace out.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Welcome back to**_** The Search for the Dwarven Ring. **_**Does Haron see a new light on his brothers-in-arms' deaths? Did Katlyn really win the bet? How will their meeting with the elves of Riverdell end? Have I told too many spoilers about this chapter? We will find out now?**

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><p>Chapter 3: Rivendell<p>

Katlyn got up early that day. She knew that the Haron would be desperate to get to his treasure before without the elves. As she checked on what was left of the leftover rabbit, Haron came out.

"Good, you didn't die of grief." Katlyn said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about my squadron." Haron said as he took a piece of rabbit, "I have come to the conclusion that it would be better to avenge my brothers than to die for them."

"Who will you take your revenge on? From what I have heard, there were little to know orcs or goblins that survived the Battle of Five Armies?"

Haron took a bite out of the rabbit, "Any orc or goblin that lives will be so no longer."

"Well then," Katlyn got up and started packing up camp, "Now that you have your priorities straight, we can continue towards Rivendell."

"All because you can throw a knife at a dead warg."

"You'll thank me later."

"I still can't believe that we are going to ask help from thieves." Haron complained, "That is all that they have done the Dwarves, steal and watch us die. Now we are going to them, asking for them to help us find our treasure."

"Do you Dwarves do anything but complain?" Katlyn said after hearing Haron complain for hours, "The elves can help us find whatever this treasure is, and that's assuming you tell them what you told me, and that's not much."

"I'm not telling you because I know that you will tell them and they will take what is ours."

Katlyn decided to let the dwarf ramble on until they heard horses over the hills.

"I think that's the elves." Katlyn said in relief; she can now listen to somebody reasonable.

They waited in their spot until the elves surrounded them. They were gracious on horseback and rode as if they were part of the horse. When all elves were on the spot the leader spoke "Enuva Katlyn… e dwem. Ne quse un ca Rivendell ?"

Katlyn was the first to speak, "Na cene en ca eve Elrond ac…"

"Someone speak in a normal language," Haron suddenly interrupted.

"No need to be offended Dwarf." The elf said then dismounted his horse, "Katlyn and I were just exchanging pleasantries. Though we will take you to Elrond if that would be better for you."

"I don't see the difference between one elf and the other, fine."

Once all was said, Katlyn mounted the head scout's horse. Another elf offered Haron a horse but he would not take it. They traveled down a small, easy to miss cave until they finally reached Rivendell. The city looked like it was taken straight out of a painting. The actual city was placed within a canyon. No other kingdom that exist or ever will exist could come close to designing such elegancy into their buildings. There were flowers in bloom all year round, some that even Katlyn could not recognize.

Katlyn looked out onto the opposite side of the canyon and saw some horses walking the path, they were from Gondor. "Why are the Men of Gondor here?"

"Elrond has called a meeting from all of the Free Peoples. A great burden that could stop an old Enemy has come to Rivendell. Elrond wishes everyone to decide on its fate." The head scout replied.

"When will they meet?"

"Next week. Even the Dwarves of the Iron Mountains will be coming."

Katlyn looked through the corner of her at Haron then spoke in Elven, "Hopefully those representatives are more agreeable."

It did not take long until they reach Elrond's meeting room. Though it was not much of a room as it was a balcony on the highest part of the city. They were told that Elrond would be there in a few hours after he was finished greeting the representatives from Gondor. Katlyn changed from her armor into some more comfortable robes that the elven maids brought to her. They offered Haron robes as well but he refused.

After an hour of waiting Elrond came to the balcony. "I apologize for being so late, I needed to see the Men of Gondor."

"Yes, I understand that you are calling together all of the Free Peoples to end a war before it begins." Katlyn replied politely.

"That is correct. Your leader, Aragon, appeared near our borders with four hobbits. One of them was mortally injured by a Nazgul. He still has not awoken yet. However, he holds the key to our success. The One Ring that was made by Sauron in Mordor."

"Wait…Wait," Haron finally spoke after hours of silence, "You mean to tell me the most powerful object in all of Middle Earth and could possible attract the orcs here in a heartbeat is in this canyon."

"That would be accurate," Elrond said then walked to a nearby bookshelf, "Though you did not come for the council. You came on your own initiative."

"Yes, Elrond. This dwarf has been sent by his king to fetch something of high importance. Aragon sent me with him here to consult you about it. Though he has not told me what it was."

She glanced at Haron. He knew that there was no way of keeping it a secret any longer. "I was told to go to Mirkwood to retrieve the Ring of Power that was last held by good King Thrain II. That's all that I know."

Elrond thought about what was told then reached for a book. He flipped the pages then stopped. "You appear to be looking for the Dwarf-Ring of King Durin III." He laid the book down and showed an illustration of the Ring. While it was not fancy, it was not decorated. It was golden with an engraving of a dwarf holding a hammer over its head on each side using only straight lines. At the head of the ring was a large sapphire firmly held in place on all sides. "The last we have record of this Ring was that it was in possession of King Thrain II, like you said, but we do not have any knowledge of further whereabouts on it or Thrain."

_Then why did we even come here. _Haron thought. _We could be in Mirkwood right now retrieving this ring. Not staring at it in a book. _

"Mirkwood by itself is unpredictable by itself, let alone with the Enemy wandering the world. Is there anything we need to know about the area?" Katlyn said, trying to find a silver lining in the whole trip.

"There is a Wizard in that the woods, Radagast the Brown, he has lived there for millennia. Though a warning, he can be eccentric at best."

"At least it's not another elf." Haron mumbled while Katlyn was thanking Elrond. "Better than going in blind at least."

"I would also advice that you to bring one of our lore master's apprentice with you. He is familiar with the Black Tongue, the language that all of Sauron's forces speak. He is also talented with a number of spells. I believe that he will be of great use to you."

"Thank you, Elrond. We will take all of the help that we can get." Katlyn said while Haron was left to angrily mumbling to himself.

"Feel free to stay here and rest for a week. You will have a long journey ahead of you. We will supply you with anything that you need."

Katlyn bowed in thanks while Haron went back to seat and Elrond left the room.

"You're lucky Elrond is a gracious host. He did not but help us, but all you did was complain and mumble to yourself."

"And why are you so loyal to him? He has done nothing to you but you still bow to him." Haron yelled.

Katlyn was about to reply but was interrupted with the door opening. It was an elf, though not one that they have meet until now. His hair was laid back and with a small braid on the side of his face. The staff that he carried was simple but had small carvings on both ends of it. He walked towards the arguing group. "Katlyn, Haron. I have been told to accompany you on your quest."

"As long as you make yourself useful." Haron said as he left the room.

"Dwarves. Hard to believe that Dwarves and Elves use to be strong allies." The elf said.

"Sorry, but I didn't catch your name."

"That is because it was never said. Algeron."

"Pleased to meet you, Algeron."

"Like wise, Katlyn." He replied bowing his head. "Should we go and find your friend before he causes any trouble?"

"He should be good. Though the sooner he is away from here the better."

"Is that him?" Algeron pointed off of the balcony to a Dwarf walking along the cliff that they entered the valley.

"Yep. Let's go and get him."

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><p><strong>There you go. A third member to our crazy party. Please leave a comment saying what you think, how I can improve, etc. See ya.<strong>


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